I read the comment exactly the opposite way, as in, "If I found money I would probably not return it, but if I saw that it belonged to a hard-working, legitimate business like a gas station, then maybe I would."

You should return money hands down regardless of who it belongs to. You can't blame me for (allegedly) "misinterpreting" your post when you say things like "gas station... maybe" and "be truthful." I remember we've fought in the past too over the way you've worded things.

The point is that there shouldn't even be any question. It doesn't matter who lost it. They deserve it back, whether it's a biogen CEO, a gas station owner, or your own brother.

as a 49 year old man, I'm glad I have you to teach me right and wrong. As a boy I guess all of those beatings the nuns at Sacred Heart gave me just didn't stick. Now can you tell me how I'm supposed to feel about the 2 wars, abortion, Chuck Turner and the situation in Egypt?

Thats a pretty shitty thing for BPD to say, as if until now they had no reason to think anyone honest lived in East Boston. If this had happenend in the Back Bay they wouldn't have said it. It reveals a disdain the police have for the people of the commmunity.

WRONG: The guy who smashed the other one for a laptop was NOT from the Back Bay, as you yourself reported:

Boston Police report Joseph Whalen, 66, of Yarmouth, was arrested for allegedly striking a man in the back of the head with a pocketknife yesterday afternoon outside the BPL main library in Copley Square.

...he's implying that your glibly equating East Boston with knife wielding criminals and Back Bay with non-knife wielding criminals, based on apparently no relation to actual crime statistics for the two neighborhoods means that you are implying that certain racial/ethnic groups are more prone to knife violence than others.

I just said that the other guy seemed to be calling him a bigot, not me. I just called him a dick. And unlike Mr. Brown, I don't think anyone here is running for office...I mean they wouldn't want to be quoted saying something idiotic.

Name any nationality or race, and I'm sure that at least one person with ancestors from that country has stabbed somebody in Boston.

And yes, certain races stab people more than others in Boston. I'd like to have stats to back that up, but I feel safe as going on the record as saying that some races stab people more than others. Maybe it's white folks that are the culprit.

And yes, I hope to run for City Council, and I stand by everything that I've said here. Am I a bigot? Possibly, but by the definition of "bigot" offered here, I'd say I'm no different than many people. We all think about these things. Guess I'm the only one with the courage to speak about how I truly feel. Doesn't mean I'll act to disenfranchise people if I'm elected.

It doesn't matter what crosses my mind about "brown people" stabbing people, there's not much I can do to stop that. Maybe I can work on city ordinances regarding knife possession or meet with the police chief to determine the best strategy for keeping these people off the streets, but beyond that, I can't as a city councilor put people in jail or kick them out of the city or country, no matter how much I thump my chest about that.

If you're going to invent the practice of "going all eeka," I'm going to at least lay down some ground rules and use this to my advantage. First of all, everyone wishing to engage in this will need to replace all of their black pens with blue ones, preferably gel pens. It just looks so much nicer than icky ball-point, and the blue stands out on forms and things. Oh, and manual transmission cars. Gotta have those. Finally, and most importantly, free and plentiful caffeine for everyone. Hmm, this could get fun, having minions...

I'm sure you're misreading the police comment. I think it's a standard comment issued when someone finds money and returns it in the town of $X: there is a photo op with the mayor or the police chief, who says, "I'm delighted to see that we have honest people living in $X". Doesn't matter if $X is East Boston or Weston; they pretty much always say the same thing.

I didn't get the impression that it was a negative comment at all, but then again, I don't have any negative pre-conceived notions about Eastie. Maybe you've lived there and have other impressions -- I thought it was great the cops were honoring this guy's honesty and that there was no disrespect aimed at East Boston.

By publicizing the nice and selfless deed, it encourages like behavior by showing that not all good action goes unrecognized or unrewarded.

At least, I think it's that simple. The "honest" in big bold letters tends to skew one's appreciation of that possibility, but I think that was probably just an unfortunate literary miscalculation on the part of the person who wrote it up.

. . . Norman Rockwell type story- kid finds bag of money not his- turns it into local police who shake his hand and take a photo with him- classic type feel good story. No other comment to make in my mind.